2025 Toyota Tacoma

Fourth generation Toyota Tacoma interior door handles -- 2024, 2025, 2026 -- suffer from an engineering or manufacturing defect. These handles are breaking during normal use, by the thousands. This is a serious safety risk, as drivers with limited mobility, or even fully-abled drivers can be entrapped within the vehicle during an emergency. A regular pull, let alone a hard pull, routinely snaps the mechanism. Toyota dealer has 1000+ backlog of repairs. This is a serious safety risk and a recall is critical. Drivers will die if this is not addressed; it is merely a matter of time.

Few months back, the driver side door handle "broke" on the inside. There is some plastic piece/mechanism that attaches the door handle to the cable on the inside of the door that allows the user to open the door, with resistance from the cable. That piece broke, so it made the handle loose and flimsy, unable to open the door from the inside. Toyota said that was a known issue and that the parts were on backorder, so they just swapped the handle from my back passenger driver side door with my front driver side door. Well last week, the swapped handle also broke. So, I have to roll my window down and open the door from outside to get out as neither of my left side door handles work. Toyota still doesn't have an eta of when parts will ship to replace the pieces, and they aren't offering me a resolution in the meantime.

The inside driver-side door handle broke, leaving me unable to open the door from inside the truck. I had to crawl across the truck and exit through another door. This is a serious and immediate safety hazard. The driver must be able to exit the vehicle quickly in an emergency. If there were a fire, accident, or other emergency, a broken interior door handle could trap the driver inside the vehicle and potentially result in serious injury or death.

Equipment Failure. The interior driver-side door handle mechanism failed and snapped completely off during normal operation while trying to exit stationary vehicle. The plastic hinge pin/bell-crank component fractured internally under standard hand pressure. This component failure completely prevents the driver from exiting the cabin from the inside, creating an immediate emergency entrapment and life-safety hazard. The manufacturer (Toyota) currently has the replacement door handle assembly on a national backorder with no available ETA, forcing consumers to operate a vehicle with a compromised emergency exit route. The vehicle currently approximately 3429 miles

Drive door handle broke became loose floppy, took to dealer, they took apart.... been waiting for parts 2 weeks.... today handle , went full failure and wont engage lock to open, can't open door from inside, have to open window to use outside handle to open door while inside, safety issue... called dealer, clam waiting on part..... Toyota knows of the issue, seen in the Toyota forum that the issue is know and both door drivers and passenger side can have this issue....really don't like that feeling of being trapped. Toyota should have a replacement upgrade to fit safety margins....i've only own my truck 1 year.....this issue start a few weeks ago...hoping the part gets to the dealer fast and the right fixes meet safety standards...

Windshield wiper motor squeals causing distraction every time wipers are turned on.

The driver side door latch failed. This prevented the driver side door from opening from the inside. To open the door, the window is rolled down, and the outside door latch is used. The mechanic said the plastic mechanism on the latch causing the failure. In the event when the driver has to exit the vehicle, he wouldn't be able to open the door. Online postings say this is a common problem with Toyota Tacoma trucks.

Drivers Door latch assembly is not functional, slowly degrading to current state in that driver’s door does not open from the inside or outside. Warranty repair order at Cool Springs Toyota submitted 4 weeks ago. Part on order. Per Facebook group postings this is a frequent failure yet no recall in place to address safety concerns.

The interior driver's-side door handle assembly on my 2025 Toyota Tacoma failed during normal use while attempting to open the door from inside the vehicle. There was no excessive force, impact, accident, or other damage that caused the failure. There were no warning lights, messages, or noticeable symptoms prior to the handle failing. The failure creates a safety concern because the driver's door can no longer be opened normally from inside the vehicle using the interior door handle. In an emergency where rapid exit from the vehicle was necessary, such as a collision or vehicle fire, the inability to use the driver's interior door release could delay or prevent the driver from exiting through that door. The vehicle was brought to an authorized Toyota dealership, which inspected and confirmed the failed interior door handle assembly. The dealership determined that the assembly requires replacement and is covering the repair under the Toyota factory warranty. The replacement assembly has been ordered; however, I was informed that the part is currently on backorder with no estimated date of availability. The failed component remains installed in the vehicle and is available for inspection if requested. The vehicle remains in use while awaiting the replacement part. I am submitting this complaint because the failure involves the mechanism used to exit the vehicle and therefore appears to present a potential safety issue rather than simply a cosmetic or convenience-related defect.

The contact owns a 2025 Toyota Tacoma. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the inside driver’s side door handle fractured and was flopping. The contact was unable to exit the vehicle through the driver’s side door and was concerned that in the event of a crash or an emergency, the door would fail open as intended. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer informed the contact over the phone that the part to repair the vehicle was on back order. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 6,000.

Both the inside and outside front door handles on the driver side stopped working. This blocks the driver from exiting from the front door. The dealer has ordered a new part, but it is on back order. The dealer has not inspected the vehicle, but they seem aware of this issue. The vehicle has not been inspected by others and there were no indicators that the part was going to fail. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request.

The front passenger door handle does not open the door. Door must be opened from the outside only. Part is on back order

The driver back passenger door stopped opening from the inside. Upon further inspection the mechanism inside the door is broken. The plastic housing snapped. This results in a safety risk in case of an emergency. The door can be opened fine from the outside.

The driver side inner door handle mechanism has broken. The part is on back order with no E.T.A. (from my local Toyota dealership). I can't easily exit my vehicle in an emergency.

The interior door handle on my vehicle broke, and this creates a safety risk because occupants — including passengers, especially children in rear seats who may not know an alternate way out — may be unable to open the door and exit from inside. This is particularly dangerous in an emergency such as a collision, fire, or submersion, or in a situation where a passenger needs to exit quickly for personal safety, such as during an abduction or assault. This defect could also delay first responders during an extraction. The door broke again immediately after picking up the vehicle.

Unable to open my driver's door from the inside. In order to get out of the vehicle, I need to put the driver's window down and open the door using the outside door handle. I took it to the dealership on July 29, 2026 for a warranty repair. I was informed that this is a known issue and there are currently 1,600 door handle mechanisms on a national back order. Unknown when the part will come in. This could be a very serious safety issue if there is an accident and a driver is unable to open the door to get out, especially in the situation in which getting out of the car is a life or death situation, such as a vehicle fire.

At 10,000 miles the interior door handle has stopped working. I’m not able to open the door anymore having Toyota take a look. The handle itself had busted on the inside. They have ordered the parts for replacement with a backorder for 2 to 3 months because they’re having a lot of reports.

We rented a vehicle consisting of the identified Toyota Tacoma with an installed cab-over camper (Travel Lite 550U-XS, VIN: [XXX]). While driving this rental vehicle on a two-lane highway with our family, including two young children (ages [XXX] and [XXX]), a fire ignited in the vehicle's built-in propane/gas stove system. We were not alerted to the fire by any onboard safety equipment, though the camper was equipped with a smoke alarm. We were alerted only by a passing motorist. The vehicle's smoke alarm did not activate until several minutes after the fire had already been extinguished by us using the vehicle's fire extinguisher, and after the smoke inside the camper had already dissipated. The smoke alarm sustained visible smoke damage and its exterior housing was melted, which we believe indicates the alarm was exposed to significant heat/smoke without triggering, or triggered only very late in that exposure. We believe this represents a serious safety equipment failure: a smoke/fire detection system that did not provide any early warning during an active fire, in a small space. This delay in detection could have resulted in serious injury or death. Additionally, we received no safety briefing regarding the hazards of the propane system at the time of vehicle handover. The vehicle overview video provided to us contained no safety information regarding the gas system, and we later discovered it depicted a different vehicle unit than the one we were actually provided, raising questions about whether this vehicle's specific gas/stove configuration and safety equipment had been properly reviewed or tested prior to rental. We made a best guess at cause in speaking with the responder fire department, but we cannot know for sure. To be clear, there was no issue with the Toyota Tacoma itself. We are submitting this complaint to ensure NHTSA is aware of this potential safety defect in the smoke alarm system and/or propane stove. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Front passenger interior door handle is a fragile component. Mine failed with little to no force where the cable disconnects from the handle. It has rendered the ability to exit the vehicle via the handle impossible, and Passenger must roll down window and reach for the exterior handle to exit. I’ve had my vehicle at the dealer, and being sent back with vehicle not fixed due to parts being on backorder. No ETA is able to be provided.

The drivers door handle inside the truck has failed leaving me unable to open the drivers door unless I roll the window down and open the door from the outside. I took the truck to a local dealer and they let me know this is a very common problem on the truck and the parts to fix it are on nationwide back order. Was sent home with the vehicle knowing the door is inoperable unless opened from the outside. This poses a serious safety risk in the event of an accident or emergency where one needs to exit the vehicle quickly.